A thief's end
by LadylayDE
Summary: It would end sooner if he allowed himself to give up. There was no point in surviving, anyway. He lost the game despite all efforts and odds and nothing would change that. Not all money in the world, no harshly spoken demand, nor mere desire. Perhaps... perhaps if they hadn't abandoned him at the very end. Or if he would have been more patient. With her and himself.


Hey guys! Just a short information before you start reading my fanfiction! English is not my mother tongue so there could be some mistakes in word or grammar. If you find some, let me know please!

I want to improve my understanding of the English language, so any helpful comment is much appreciated!

I hope you enjoy!

The suction of the sinking ship pulled at his clothes, dragged him down into the depths of the sea to drown.

His lungs were burning like fire and the water around him turned red from his own blood.

Pain.

So much pain.

It could not end this way.

It mustn't end this way.

So many years of hard work, crumbled to dust in a few moments.

Should he really die _this_ way?

All he had ever wanted was to achieve something important just on his own. Something they would remember him for. To recognize him for.

Maybe he wanted to be a little like Nathan. Popular and acknowledged for who he was and for what he'd discovered.

And now? Now he was going to drown. Unlike Nathan.

They all had left him.

At first his family, then the rest.

Tris.

She wanted to make him quit.

And he had left _her_.

 _I do not care if you'll find this silly treasure or not. I want you to be safe, not rich and dead._

He had sent her away because she ceased to be a great help for him the last couple of weeks ago.

Constantly she had been objecting to his decisions, called him reckless or too obsessed with the treasure.

For his own good, he should stop, she told him. Giving up on the only thing he had wanted for over fifteen years.

But he almost made it.

Almost.

Maybe if she hadn't slowed him down, tried to lure him away from Sam and his little shit brother he would have been victorious.

Why didn't she believed in him?

Nadine never had questioned him.

Well… at least until the very end.

Her betrayal though was all the more shocking for him for he had not seen it coming.

Why did they all left?

Nobody who was believing in him.

 _You're gonna get yourself killed if you're not careful. Please promise to be careful._

He should have listened to Tris.

But that didn't matter now.

He was going to drown and everything he had worked for would simply perish with him in the dark floods.

All for nothing.

His whole body groaned in pain and he knew he wouldn't have enough strength to reach the surface. And maybe… he did not want to.

He lost the race.

Far above him he caught the muffled crunching and creaking of bursting wood, the old gunpowder burning and exploding inside the _Fancy_.

An unworthy finish but the end nevertheless.

He looked up to the surface.

Planks, boards and splinters all over. The heavy moving water rippled and shimmered red and yellow in the explosions.

It reminded him of panama.

The night before they were going to prison to find the treasure.

They had just met but he knew he had a connection with Tris the moment he shook her hand.

It just clicked between them.

Sam loved her and Rafe could see why pretty soon, too.

Her wits where outmatching, she was fierce and funny.

Beautiful, to say the least.

A force of nature.

Back that time she seemed to be the first person in a lifetime who was able to compete with him, who seemed to have the same state of mind as himself.

They had the same idea of accomplishing and learning things, she was tough if needed to be. But most of time she radiated kindness and it was always easy for her to win people. Everybody wanted to consider her a friend and a lot of people owed her a big deal, but he needed to learn soon that there were few she called friends herself.

The more time he spent with her the more he understood that she wasn't easy in trusting someone, unlike the people she inspired trusting _her_.

And one day he mused that she was just as broken and wary as he was.

The perfect match.

Tris was some of the rare things he didn't intended and just took as a wink of fate.

Oh, he would never forget panama.

Her rugged breath against his skin, the taste of her mouth, the feeling of her soft raven hair beneath his fingers. The sight of her bare throat as she threw her head back in pleasure.

Somewhere not far away from the annual flickering bonfires, in an abandoned garden, dark and intimate.

The only thing that didn't go wrong in panama.

Now everything the fire over his head meant was death and destruction. It would burn his dreams to ashes.

He heard his father grumbling.

 _You can't do anything right, Raphael. That's not the son I raised. How disappointing._

Even now, in his last moments, he would have to listen to his father's scowling voice. Would have to listen on how many ways he failed him and his mountain high expectations.

It would end sooner if he allowed himself to give up.

Just stop to fight the water.

Just stop to fight suffocating.

And the voice of his father would vanish like everyone else's.

 _Please promise to be careful._

Green eyes full of affection and worry despite his rage and impatience, despite his bitter words.

His last gift to her was a stinging slap on the face for telling him the truth.

 _You are out of your goddamn mind, Rafe! Leave Sam alone!_

No words to fit her hurt expression.

He was too proud to go after her. Too proud to do something so atypical for him like apologizing.

And after he got back she was gone.

No letter or explanation.

He didn't need one.

The necklace on his plank bed was enough.

He had never seen her without it since the day he gave it to her.

A small and simple pendant hanging on a delicate silver chain. On each side there was a word carved inside.

 _Fortune._

 _Fate._

She was the first thing he had been serious about, besides his father's business and the treasure hunting.

 _To meet you was fate, but the fact you stayed was good fortune._

He gasped for air and felt the water gushing into his mouth.

Dizziness filled his head and his sight narrowed, faded and nearly went out.

But then he saw something.

A slender, small figure in the corner of his eyes, surrounded by vanishing bubbles.

It came straight towards him.

A shark? So close to the mainland? In this deafening noise?

With any luck, he was already unconscious before the animal could get close enough.

It was very slow for a shark.

Suddenly his mind processed what he was seeing.

It was her.

A strangled cry escaped his throat and abruptly he felt the crushing weight of the sea. His lungs began to demand for air again, pushed him to move and stay awake despite the dizziness.

It had to be her.

 _Stay awake. I cannot drown. I won't allow it._

He managed to stay conscious until he felt her touch.

Then he blackened out.


End file.
